Three games to go. Wow, where did this season go?
Some news, notes and observations for you …
The plot thickens.
The Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 race got a facelift Tuesday night, when Lebanon took over sole possession of first place when the Cedars topped Northern Lebanon 57-23 and Elco shocked Lampeter-Strasburg 69-60 – in Lampeter.
Lebanon (11-2, 14-6) is now one game ahead of L-S (10-3, 14-6), which is alone in second, a game ahead of Elco (9-4, 12-8) and Manheim Central (9-4, 12-8), which are still hanging on by an eyelash.
Remaining schedules: Lebanon – Friday vs. Elco, Tuesday @ Manheim Central, Thursday @ L-S. L-S – Friday vs. Donegal, Tuesday @ Northern Lebanon, Thursday vs. Lebanon.
If everybody wins out, L-S would need a win over Lebanon on the last night of league play to force a one-game playoff for the crown. Nothing like a good one-game playoff, eh? For the record, Lebanon topped L-S 54-37 on Jan. 23 in Lebanon.
The Section 4 championship trophy is already headed to Lancaster Catholic (which had to fight like mad to hold off Lancaster Mennonite on Tuesday), but there is still some drama here.
Mennonite (7-6, 13-7) and Lebanon Catholic (7-6, 13-7) are in a dead heat for second place with three games to go. Whoever survives gets the Section 1 champ in the first round of the L-L League playoffs on Feb. 12.
Remaining schedules: Mennonite – Friday @ Columbia, Tuesday vs. Lebanon Catholic, Thursday vs. Pequea Valley. Lebanon Catholic – Friday vs. Pequea Valley, Tuesday @ Mennonite, Thursday at Annville-Cleona.
On Jan. 19 in Lebanon, Mennonite squeaked past Lebanon Catholic 47-44.
In Section 2, Conestoga Valley had a chance to clinch at least a tie for the crown on Tuesday, but dropped a gut-wrenching 51-50 decision at Elizabethtown, which did what any good spoiler team should do: spoil.
CV (7-6, 11-9) still has a two-game lead over Garden Spot (5-8, 9-11) and Solanco (5-8, 9-11), and faces these scenarios on Friday when the Bucks visit Solanco:
* CV clinches at least a tie for the section championship with a victory over Solanco. If the Golden Mares win, the Bucks would still have a one-game lead with two games to go.
* CV clinches the section crown outright with a victory, and if E-town can play spoiler again and knock off Garden Spot in E-town.
<I’ll be in Quarryville for CV-Solanco on Friday, so be sure to check Saturday’s New Era for my story.>
After victories on Tuesday, Cedar Crest (12-1, 18-2) and McCaskey (12-1, 18-2) remained deadlocked for the top spot in Section 1. Hempfield (10-3, 15-4) is still mathematically alive, and hosts Cedar Crest on Friday in what could be the Black Knights’ last hurrah for earning an L-L League playoff spot.
Remaining schedules: Cedar Crest – Friday @ Hempfield, Monday vs. Warwick, Thursday vs. McCaskey. McCaskey – Friday @ Warwick, Tuesday vs. Manheim Township, Thursday @ Cedar Crest.
If the Section 1 title doesn’t come down to Cedar Crest-McCaskey on the last night, a lot of people will be surprised. But Hempfield still has a say.
TUESDAY’S TOPPERS: Best individual performances from Tuesday’s games:
* Hempfield junior forward Analicia Evans (that’s her in the photo at the top of this post) scored a career-high 20 points in the Black Knights’ 47-41 win over Warwick. Her previous best was 18 points, on Jan. 18 against Penn Manor and on Jan. 2 against Conestoga Valley.
* Warwick senior guard Emily Wentworth scored a career-high 15 points in the Warriors’ 47-41 setback to Hempfield. Her previous best was 13 points, just last Friday against Manheim Township.
* Donegal guard Nicky Hess continued her torrid sophomore season with three 3-pointers and 18 points in the Indians’ 56-47 loss to Manheim Central. Hess has 34 points and six 3’s in the last two games.
* Elco senior forward Allison Bicher also continued her torrid stretch with a game-high 22 points in the Raiders’ clutch 69-60 win at L-S, knocking the Pioneers out of a first-place tie with Lebanon in Section 3. Bicher has 94 points in her last five games (18.8 per).
* Lebanon senior guard Megan Strohman scored 10 of her game-high 14 points in the first quarter in the Cedars’ 57-23 victory over Northern Lebanon. Strohman has 1,006 points, and is the fifth player in Lebanon girls’ history to score 1,000 points. Congrats to Megan.
* Northern Lebanon senior guard Crissa Clay is quietly putting together a nice season for the Vikings. She scored 14 points and hit a couple of 3’s in Northern Lebanon’s 57-23 loss to Lebanon. Clay has a team-high 13 3-pointers.
* Two career-highs for a pair of Annville-Cleona players: senior guard Samantha Longenecker scored a career-high 15 points and junior guard Chelsea Bressler scored a career-high 13 points in the Little Dutchmen’s 49-36 victory over Pequea Valley. Longenecker’s previous high was 13 points on Dec. 14 vs. Hamburg; Bressler’s previous high was 12 points, on Jan. 2 vs. Northern Lebanon and Jan. 22 vs. Lebanon Catholic.
* Lancaster Catholic senior point guard Amy Pickard pumped in a game-high 22 points – and shot 3-for-4 from the field and scored 8 points in the fourth quarter, when she helped bail Catholic out down the stretch – in the Crusaders’ 59-52 win over Lancaster Mennonite. <kindly read my report from the game in Wednesday’s New Era>
* Lancaster Mennonite junior guard Katelyn Kreider shot 9-for-13 from the floor and scored a career-high 18 points in the Blazers’ narrow 59-52 loss to Lancaster Catholic. Kreider is playing through a rare blood disorder called Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura. She’s only missed one game this season, and says she’s feeling much, much better since a surgical procedure last year. I wrote a column about Kreider and her condition last year. You can read that story here.
* Elizabethtown senior guard Liz Bard scored 20 points as the Bears stunned Conestoga Valley 51-50 and kept the Bucks from clinching a tie for the Section 2 title. Bard’s previous best was 18 points – on Jan. 19 against Ephrata and Dec. 27 vs. Spring Grove.
* Three Garden Spot players make my list: senior guard Jenny Huyett scored a season-high 16 points, senior guard Jill Sanger had a career-high 14 points, and junior guard Chrissy Taylor hit three 3-pointers and scored a season-high 15 points in the Spartans’ 55-48 win over Cocalico, keeping Garden Spot in a tie for second place with Solanco in Section 2. Taylor is averaging 11.5 points a game and has 11 3’s in her last four games.
* Solanco senior forward Tracee Harrison continued to shine, scoring 18 of her game-high 26 points in the first half in the Golden Mares’ 62-51 win over Ephrata, as Solanco remained tied for second with Garden Spot – but has the tiebreaker.
LUCKY 7s: From the odd stat pile, here’s one for you – Columbia and Donegal have each scored 777 points. It’s amazing what you can find when you spread everyone’s stat sheet out on your kitchen table and go in for inspection.
SWAMI SAYS: If you forgot (heck, I had to go back and check), these were my preseason picks in the section races – Section 1 (McCaskey), Section 2 (Conestoga Valley), Section 3 (Manheim Central) and Section 4 (Lancaster Catholic).
McCaskey is tied for first; CV has a two-game lead for first; Central is two games out with three to play; and Catholic already wrapped up the crown.
OK, so I’m not a stinking genius. But that’s not too shabby.
NEWS AND NOTES: Top scoring teams in the L-L League – Lancaster Catholic (64.1), L-S (60.8), Cedar Crest (60.6), McCaskey (57.3), Lancaster Mennonite (54.6), Lebanon (53.3), Manheim Central (52.6), and Manheim Township (51.7). … Lancaster Catholic has a league-best 79 3-pointers. … L-S is the only team in the league that has scored at least 1,000 points (1,216) and also given up at least 1,000 points (1,020). … Cedar Crest senior guard Allison Smith (that’s her on the right) scored 10 points Tuesday against Manheim Township, pushing her career total to 977. … Lancaster Catholic coach Lamar Kauffman has 595 career wins. If his team continues to win out, he would reach lucky number 600 with a win in the L-L League semifinals on Feb. 14. … Lebanon senior guard Shaleene Hare has 30 3-pointers since the calendar flipped over to 2007. … Cedar Crest (18-2), Hempfield (16-4), Manheim Township (12-8), McCaskey (18-2), Warwick (14-6), Elco (12-8), Manheim Central (12-8), L-S (14-6), Lebanon (14-6), Lancaster Catholic (18-2) and Lancaster Mennonite (13-7) have all quailed for the upcoming District 3 playoffs. CV (11-9) needs one win to get in, and Garden Spot (9-11) and Solanco (9-11) both need to win out to get in, and that would likely lead to play-in games. Lebanon Catholic (7-13), Columbia (5-15), Pequea Valley (5-15) and Annville-Cleona (4-16) could also get in.
That’s all for now. Should have a notebook, stat pack and rankings up either Saturday night or sometime Sunday. Thanks for reading.
JEFFREY REINHART
